Introduction to vCSA

vCSAThe full name is called vCenter Server Appliance.
Why use vCSAit? You can add ESXi to vCSAthe management domain to achieve this 统一管理.
vCSAIt also provides many advanced functions such as:

virtual machine 高可用,
distributed 虚拟交换机,
RBAC (Role Based Access Control 基于角色的访问控制) and so on.
vCSAYes 独立部署, yes 嵌套部署;
独立部署means to vCSAinstall it 物理机inside (suitable for a large number of ESXi.)
嵌套部署It means vCSAthat in 虚拟机the form of 安装到ESXi, this method is the most popular method, because it uses the characteristics of the virtual machine and vCSAhas 高可用the characteristics of .

Deploy vCSA from command line

https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/7.0/com.vmware.vcenter.install.doc/GUID-C17AFF44-22DE-41F4-B85D-19B7A995E144.html

1. Upload the ISO of VCSA to Linux

# 上传VSCA镜像到Linux机器
## VMware-Virtual-Platform为一台将要运行vCSA的Linux机器
scp VMware-VCSA-all-7.0.3-20395099.iso VMware-Virtual-Platform:/data/iso/

# 查看文件详情
ls -lh VMware-VCSA-all-7.0.3-20395099.iso

2. Mount the ISO of VCSA

# 挂载ISO
mount VMware-VCSA-all-7.0.3-20395099.iso /mnt/iso/

3. Copy the VCSA json file and configure it

# 拷贝json文件并配置
cp /mnt/iso/vcsa-cli-installer/templates/install/embedded_vCSA_on_ESXi.json ~

json configuration file example

Reference: https://www.zhangfangzhou.cn/cli-install-vcsa.html

json配置Reference: https://docs.vmware.com/cn/VMware-vSphere/7.0/com.vmware.vcenter.install.doc/GUID-3683BA76-B08A-4DDB-9CCF-66660F6AD1CF.html

{
    
    
    "__version": "2.13.0",
    "__comments": "在 ESXi 主机上部署具有嵌入式平台服务控制器的 vCenter Server Appliance 的示例模板。",
    "new_vcsa": {
    
    
        "esxi": {
    
    
            // 物理 ESXI 主机IP地址 esxi的fqdn或ip
            "hostname": "10.33.201.202",
            "username": "root",
            "password": "ESXi的密码",
            "deployment_network": "VM Network",
            // 存放的数据存储,一般改为vcsa
            "datastore": "Datastore"
        },
        "appliance": {
    
    
            "__comments": [
                "必须为 deployment_option 键提供一个值,该值将影响 VCSA 的配置参数,例如 VCSA 的 vCPU 数量、内存大小、存储大小以及可以管理的最大 ESXi 主机和虚拟机数量。要查看可接受的值列表,请运行支持的部署大小帮助,即 vcsa-deploy --supported-deployment-sizes。"
            ],
            // #硬盘模式：精简制备
            "thin_disk_mode": true,
            // #部署大小：tiny small medium large，分别为 微、小、中、大
            "deployment_option": "tiny",
            //  #vCenter-Server-Appliance的名字，一般改为改为vcsa   
            "name": "vcsa"
        },
        "network": {
    
    
            // 选择ipv4或ipv6
            "ip_family": "ipv4",
            // 静态IP
            "mode": "static",
            // 机器的FQDN
            "system_name": "{
    
    { vcenter.name }}",
            // vCenter的IP
            "ip": "10.33.201.80",
            // #网络前缀，一般都是24
            "prefix": "24",
            // 默认网关   
            "gateway": "10.33.200.1",
            // dns服务器
            "dns_servers": [
                "10.33.123.60"
            ]
        },
        "os": {
    
    
            // os密码
            "password": "密码",
            // ntp服务器
            "ntp_servers": "ntp.aliyun.com",
            // 是否启用ssh #ssh开启
            "ssh_enable": true
        },
        "sso": {
    
    
            // SSO域的密码
            "password": "密码",
            // SSO域的域名,没有域名设置默认域名：vsphere.local
            "domain_name": "vsphere.local"
        }
    },
    "ceip": {
    
    
        "description": {
    
    
            "__comments": [
                "VMware 的客户体验改善计划 (CEIP)"
            ]
        },
        "settings": {
    
    
            // 关闭用户反馈(CEIP)
            "ceip_enabled": false
        }
    }
}

4.Install VCSA

LinuxInstall VMware vCenter Server Appliance in the system ( vCSA)

# 命令行安装vCSA
## -t: 指定配置VCSA 的json模板文件
## --accept-eula：接受最终用户许可协议
## --no-ssl-certificate-verification：不验证SSL证书
## -v：显示详细的输出信息
## --log-dir ~/vcsa-install-log：指定安装日志文件
/mnt/iso/vcsa-cli-installer/lin64/vcsa-deploy install -t ~/embedded_vCSA_on_ESXi.json --accept-eula --no-ssl-certificate-verification -v --log-dir ~/vcsa-install-log

Deploy vCSA7 from command line